Tuberculosis rates in parts of London are worse than those in some of the world’s poorest countries, figures show today.
The worst rate in the capital was in the borough of Newham, where the level of TB infections topped those in Niger, Eritrea and Tajikistan.
Labour branded the disease’s prevalence in London “Dickensian” and demanded action to tackle the problem in this country and abroad.
Its call follows a parliamentary report that estimated the disease would cost nations £11 trillion and knock 0.7 per cent off global GDP by 2050.
Shadow International Development Secretary Mary Creagh said: “The levels of TB in London today are shocking, something you would expect in Dickensian times, not modern England.
“It is deeply worrying that some parts of London have higher TB rates than some sub-Saharan countries and that new tests and treatments have been neglected.”
Figures from Public Health England show there are 36 cases of TB per 100,000 people in London but some boroughs had far higher rates. In Newham there were 107 cases per 100,000, in Brent there were 89 and in Hounslow and Ealing there were 63.
Public Health England, which produced the figures, said London’s rates had fallen but remained high com- pared with the rest of the UK and other EU cities.
The body stated 83 per cent of individuals with TB in 2013 were born outside the UK, though rates decreased in the non-UK-born London population.
The most recent World Health Organisation figures show there were 104 cases per 100,000 in Morocco in 2013, 102 in Niger, 100 in Tajikistan, 92 in Eritrea and 69 in Rwanda.
Ms Creagh called for more funding for the NHS and a new universal health coverage centre to help developing countries establish their own free national health services.
The all-party parliamentary group on global tuberculosis published a report to mark World TB day yesterday, calling for a new fund to support develop- ment of treatments. It said multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis represents a clear threat to the global economy and health security, adding that it could kill more than 2.5 million people a year between now and 2050.
